Good morning, 

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, August 27, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

House Votes To Restore AG’s Election Fraud Powers

• After State Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano) helped sink it during the regular session, legislation restoring the power of the attorney general to prosecute election fraud passed the House yesterday. Brandon Waltens has the details.
   
• The legislation, which originated in the Senate, gives the attorney general jurisdiction to directly prosecute violations of Texas election laws. It also requires law enforcement agencies to turn over reports of probable election offenses to the AG’s office and mandates that local prosecutors share information upon request.
      
• Similar legislation advanced during the regular session but died in a conference committee after the House and Senate passed sharply differing versions. Shaheen, leading the House negotiators, insisted on including a six-month delay before the attorney general could take up cases—a provision Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Senate rejected as unworkable. The impasse killed the effort, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to place the issue on the special session agenda.
      
• At issue has been a 2021 ruling from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals striking down the attorney general’s long-standing authority to independently prosecute these election-related cases. 

Trial Court Shields LGBT Organization From Investigation

• A Travis County court has sided with an LGBT group in a legal fight with the attorney general over records documenting gender mutilation procedures performed on minors. Paige Feild details the case.
      
• More than a year ago, Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into medical professionals allegedly providing illegal gender mutilation procedures to minors and defrauding insurance companies. As part of that investigation, the gay-rights group PFLAG refused to turn over its documents. A Democrat judge in Travis County recently sided with the LGBT organization in blocking the AG's investigation.
     
• The Supreme Court of Texas is scheduled to take up the matter later this year.

Houston Doctor Keeps Fighting Texas Medical Board Attacks

• Under attack by the Texas Medical Board since 2022 after prescribing ivermectin to a patient during the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston's Mary Tally Bowden says she is not backing down after a panel ruled against her this week. Addie Hovland has the story.
     
• Dr. Bowden—an ear, nose, and throat specialist—objected to the decision because it was made by an unelected administrative law judge from the State Office of Administrative Hearings. It will be up to the TMB to take final action, which Dr. Bowden says she will appeal.
       
• In supporting Bowden's fight, Dr. Kelly Victory has argued that the "weaponization of state medical boards" is not only bad for physicians but also their patients.

School Districts Must Follow Ten Commandments Law

• Texas school districts are being instructed to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms under a new state law. While ongoing litigation has halted the displays in 11 districts, Attorney General Ken Paxton is warning that the rest of the state's districts are still expected to comply with the law.
      
• The law requiring the Ten Commandments in every classroom is set to take effect on September 1. It requires every elementary and secondary classroom to display a framed copy or durable poster of the Ten Commandments in a “conspicuous place.” Schools are not required to purchase the posters, but they must accept and display any donated copy that meets the law's requirements.
     
• The injunction applies only to Alamo Heights ISD, North East ISD, Austin ISD, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, Lackland ISD, Lake Travis ISD, Fort Bend ISD, Houston ISD, Dripping Springs ISD, Plano ISD, and Northside ISD.

OTHER EDUCATION NEWS

• Ontiveros, who has worked as an elementary paraprofessional since 2023, allegedly “developed a relationship” with a high school student. She does not hold a Texas teaching certificate.
      
• Last year, a Marfa ISD substitute teacher was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child sexual abuse videos.

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Quote-Unquote

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– Winston Churchill​

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